Clientside researchers ‘must master business languages’

UK— Clientside researchers need to master “every language that is spoken in business” to make sure they are properly listened to, said Global Radio’s insight director John Fryers.

Speaking at Vision Critical’s client summit this morning, Fryers said: “We need to have the ability to communicate with all disciplines in their own language and understand the pressures that are on them.”

Fryers was part of a panel debate discussing the role of research within client companies and how it can evolve to have the most impact.

Understanding the wants and needs of internal stakeholders emerged as a key requirement. Fryers felt that “if you have a thorough understanding of your business you will very quickly understand whether a proposed methodology or approach is appropriate”.

Meanwhile Simon Wainwright, market research director for media group Future, said that effectively communicating research findings is about recognising which audience you are presenting too.

“There is certainly a process that researchers still have to go through,” he said. “We still feel that we have to create a lot of charts to understand the story, but the research should never go out the door like that. It’s our job to figure out what the three or four key messages are.”

Doing that “demonstrates that you’ve not just printed out what’s on screen,” said Phil McKee, research and insight executive at The Football League. “It shows you’ve read it and digested it – you’re not just passing it on.”

Once senior business decision-makers are engaged with the research function, it becomes a much easier sell, the panel agreed.

Fryers said that within Global Radio barriers to getting research listened to have “disappeared” over the past two years. “We now have the opposite problem where the idea of involving research in every decision is so widespread we’re having to restrict people.”